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| Bombay Stock Exchange |
Stock markets remained buoyant for the sixth consecutive session today, with the BSE benchmark Sensex rising by nearly 140 points to a fresh 32-month high as FIIs continued to bet big on India.
After regaining the 19,000-level yesterday, the Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share barometer ended the day higher by 138.63 points, or 0.72%, at 19,346.96. Its previous best close was 19,700.82 on January 17, 2008.
Similarly, the wide-based 50-share Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange added 0.62% to end near the 5,800-level. The index finished the day at 5,795.55.
At one point of time during trade today, the Sensex hit a high of 19,487. Marketmen attributed the rise to foreign institutional investors pumping in funds as they remained bullish on the India growth story, especially after 13.8% growth in industrial output in July.
With today's gains, markets have gained over 20% since the last week of May, 2010. Discarding the possibility of profit-booking at higher levels, brokers said markets would continue to rise.
"This is a liquidity-supported rally and we hope the bull run would continue for sometime," Edelweiss Capital head of institutional equities Vikas Khemani said.
Markets discarded inflation falling to 8.5% in August. Analysts, however, said that all eyes are now on the Reserve Bank's mid-quarter review of monetary policy on Thursday. The apex bank's stance on interest rate in view of high inflation would direct the market, they added.
Advance tax collection numbers are another indicator that could impact the sentiment, they said further.
In terms of sectors, consumer durables, IT and auto were by far the biggest winners. Select capital goods, FMCG, Oil & Gas, PSU and banking indices on the BSE also gained. However, profit-booking at metal, realty and power counters pared some of the gains.
IT major Wipro zoomed 3.6% and was the top gainer in the Sensex pack. Other peers also participated in rally, with Infosys rising 1.38% and TCS 1.65%.
Analysts said a forecast for faster European economic growth boosted confidence and led the rally in IT stocks.
Among frontline banking stocks, HDFC Bank jumped 2.33%, HDFC 1.27% and ICICI Bank 0.27%. SBI, which had gained over 5% in the previous session, saw some profit-booking and ended 1% lower.
In the auto segment, Tata Motors gained 2.73%, Maruti 1.5% and M&M 1.44%.
Bharti Airtel also rose by 2.12% and Jaiprakash Associates by 3.31%. Furthermore, L&T advanced by nearly 1%.
In the 30-BSE index components, 19 stocks closed with gains, while 11 ended in the negative zone. Reliance Industries Ltd, which holds the maximum weight in the Sensex, lagged behind and ended 0.45% lower at Rs987.75. Yesterday, the energy major had gained about 3.5%.
Metal major Sterlite rose 2.68%, but its peers, Hindalco and Tata Steel, ended in the red. Hindalco led the losers pack and ended nearly 2% down.
Other major losers included ACC, which declined 1.91%, Tata Power (down 0.76%), Tata Steel (down 0.72%) and NTPC (down 0.60%).
The market breadth was negative as small-caps and mid-caps lost ground. However, trading volumes and turnover was on an upswing, underscoring the current positive momentum in the market.
On the global front, Asian stocks ended narrowly mixed. The key indices in Japan, Singapore and Kospi ended lower by 0.24% to 0.59% , while bourses in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan inched up by 0.01% to 0.51%.
After registering initial gains, European shares fell back in late morning deals ahead of the release of key data by Germany and the United States, which is likely to indicate the pace of economic recovery. Key indices in the UK, France and Germany were down by 0.19% to 0.36%.
